15 month data of converting my primary to a rental

[Scott W.]

I had just joined BP during this time & there were so many on here that said I should just sell the thing because "the 50% rule doesn't work for this rental." Write a check for $10-$15k so I could go buy another house? Yeah, right. I have had negative cash flow...to the tune of $1600 out-of-my pocket (this includes vacancy, utilities paid during vacancy, rent ready cost, maintenance...everything). To date, I have $5800 in principal paydown & $20k in appreciation (I found 3 exact comps within 0.5 miles sold within the past 3 months; one was worth $10k more but I'm going to ignore that one as I'm trying to be ultraconservative on my numbers). Oh, also, my primary residence? That went up 12% as well since last June. Yep, I just saved a ton of dough having to buy that some home today. I would be interested to see if anyone else has had success as a former primary residence turned rental in the past year or two?